Listening to a BEP music while driving home today, I noticed that my rear view mirror is shaking like crazy. It was vibrating so bad that I can't even see the car behind me! Is this normal? Once I got home, I played the same music on my wife's MB (Harman Kardon) at a very loud volume with full bass and it was not as bad as my prius. Never remember seeing anything like this on my previous cars - Lexus, BMW and Audi with upgraded stereo Mark Levinson, HK, and Bose.
Turn down the volume before you get tennitis. It probably has to do specifically with how the front glass is designed, coupled with the 6x9's in the front doors that can produce a decent amount of low frequency bass (which causes the shaking). The front windshield is huge and the slope combined with the hatch back probably allows the bass to reverberate in the car pretty good. I think a few members on here are sound engineers and can explain better. Ultimately if you want to reduce the rearview mirror shake, turn down the volume or the bass level.
Take a tennis ball and cut it in half or maybe a little bigger and wedge it between the top edge of the mirror and the window. Use the flat cut edge against the window and the soft furry side against the top edge of the mirror. You will have to play around with it a little maybe ruining a couple of balls before you get it right. Drive with it a few days and see what you think. Then spray paint it with the color paint (black) of your choice. You don't need much pressure and it will take out a big chunk of the vibration. I have pics if anyone is interested. G
If this is normal, then rear view mirror on the prius sucks! Toyota should just put in a radioshack stereo and cellphone speaker if the solution is to turn down the volume and bass. As I have mentioned before, it is not doing this in all my other cars with high end stereo. And from experience, Im quite sure the lexus Mark Levinson audio system is way better than the JBL.
Hate to tell you, but.... I noticed this shake about 1/2 block from the dealer after delivery. Now 9 weeks ago. After testing time, it's apparent the mirror is tight and no tightening will alleviate. It appears it's harmonics from the large windshield. You can feel it in your fingertips near the mirror mount. And the tweeters are very near the base of the windshield which may impact as well. I was not a happy camper as I had to bring the bass to 1-2 ... anything above with normal volume resulted in shake. And I'm not a hiphop listener... We had quite a few posts on this topic and it's a common problem. I believe a design deficiency that we'll have to live with. The tennis ball mod, well, give it a try I'd guess. I agree - I've never experienced this with other cars unless the bass is really cranked. Perhaps someone has more info now - I'd like to know as well.
Seems that this is more pronounced on cars that have the Homelink Mirrors. I was in a Prius II the other day, helping someone I know learn about their car, and it took a much louder volume to cause the vibrations than it did in my car (A Prius V with Navi). Does anyone without the Homelink Mirror notice it differently? In other words, has anyone without Homelink complained, or is it all of us with the 'Fancy Mirror', which may not be so fancy after all? Also, while I am on the topic of the Homelink Mirror, does anyone else have issues with the Auto Dimming not happening enough? Mine only starts to dim when the car behind me is on my Arse. When they are a few car lengths back, I get the full glare of their headlights in my face. There is not an override button, or the ability to switch it dimmer. Yes, I have it powered on, as I have tried turning it off too, and that does not work either (Obviously).
yes, elgmainz, I was wondering if it was only me. My auto dim doesn't work when a semi is directly behind me with its lights blinding me, but yet works as soon as I open the garage door to the bright sunlight. Like you, the system is on, so that shouldn't be a factor.
I created a new post on the Auto-Dimming system issues. I searched a bit and saw a few complaints that were the same as mine, but no responses answered them. Maybe someone will here: http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...elink-mirror-auto-dimming-not.html#post926986
I have a Prius III without fancy mirror and the "wrong" kind of music will cause mirror vibration at not-really-loud volume levels. A couple of my CDs (of different genres) seem to like to have sustained super-low bass notes that cause bad vibration.
FWIW, I'm driving a Matrix right now (loaner from the dealer while my headlight computer is being replaced) and the mirror shakes like crazy when I turn up the volume with the Foo Fighters. Much more pronounced then when I listen to the same music in my Prius.
